Six Nations 2024: Ireland's Caelan Doris relishing back-row battle with 'explosive' Ben Earl

Doris has been one of Ireland's most consistent performers under head coach Andy Farrell

Ireland back row Caelan Doris says he is relishing a potential battle with England's "explosive" number eight Ben Earl in Saturday's Six Nations match.

Doris is expected to start at eight for Ireland while Earl is set to retain that role for the hosts having started there in the first three games.

Earl has emerged as a key figure for Steve Borthwick's England side after impressing at the Rugby World Cup.

"Earl's been playing very well for them over the last few weeks," said Doris.

"We've played against each other since under-18s. I know him pretty well and he probably knows me well, as well.

Doris, who also name-checked New Zealand's Ardie Savea and France's Gregory Alldritt as number eights he admires, added: "I've been watching him with Saracens and Bristol. He's someone I rate highly.

"[He's] very explosive, carries very well off the base of the scrum, big turnover threat and a pretty good all-round footballer.

"He's someone who could potentially cause trouble and we'll have to do our best to try and nullify him."

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Doris, 25, also highlighted Maro Itoje's threat from the line-out and fly-half George Ford's kicking game as areas Ireland need to pay close attention to at Twickenham.

While England are hoping to extinguish the pain of their 30-21 defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield last time out, Ireland are aiming to move one step closer to a second successive Grand Slam.

Ireland would still need to beat Scotland in Dublin on 16 March to complete another clean sweep, but Andy Farrell's side will win the championship with a game to spare if they secure a bonus-point victory over England on Saturday.

"It would be class, it would be unreal," Doris said when asked about potentially winning a title at Twickenham.

"We actually haven't spoken too much about that. It's been largely on improving our performances of the last few weeks and getting better.

"We are aware obviously what's at stake and what we can do, but it's about our performance. If we get that right, the result will look after itself."

'Ireland must eliminate silly penalties'

After beating France and Italy, Ireland kept another Grand Slam in their sights with a 31-7 win over Wales in Dublin on 24 February.

While it was a third successive bonus-point win for Farrell's side, attack coach Mike Catt last week admitted Ireland "went away from what we were really good at" against the Welsh.

For Doris - who captained Ireland for the first time against Italy last month - the discipline needs to improve.

"First of all, our discipline was pretty poor, that kind of stands out," reflected Doris.

"I think we had 14 [13] penalties and through the competition so far, it's traditionally been a strength of ours, but the last three games it hasn't been there.

"We're trying to get back to where we were last year and not giving away silly penalties. When you're playing on the edge and trying to cause trouble at the opposition breakdown, you're bound to give away a couple but we need to eliminate the silly ones.

"There are some within our control that we're giving away at the minute so that's one big focus.

"In terms of our attack, we put a lot of attention into the detail within our shapes and some of that took a backward step.

"It was a good reminder for us going into the last two games that we can't take it for granted."